Operating means



May l0 1927.

A. H. sjrEBBlNs OPERATING NEANS 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 6,

'pg By www ww ATTORNEY .lllllllll i MW 10 1927f A. H. s'rEB-BiNs OPERATING MEANS Filed Feb. 61926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /N VEN TOR.' W ae. B7 [ir-L. Q 3@ A7V-ORNE Y Patented May 10, 1927.

ALBERT`H. STEBBIVNS, OF LOS vANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

' OPERATING MEANS.

Application filed February 6, 1926. vSerial No. 86,618.

devices supported for vibratory movement.-

VVhe'n a vibratory movement is employed in effecting the sepa-ration ofmaterials,'it`

is usually important that the strength and nature of the movement be carefully adjusted to accommodate the condition of the materials being treated', and also theparticw lar separating operation being effected, and it may, desirable to change the nature of the movement at frequent intervals to accommodate changes in the condition of the materials being treated.

Various forms of operating means have been proposed heretofore, but difficulty has been experienced in developing a simple form of operating meansthat maybe readily adjusted to produce a wide range of different movements. f

llhe present invention is therefore directed to operating means which is extremely simple in construction and which'may be readily r adjusted to produce any desired type of progressive movement.

One importantfeature of the present in vention resides ina rocking crankshaft or arm that is connected by a cable to the frame to be vibrated, and in means for rocking the arm to impart an accelerated movement to the frame.

Another feature of the invention resides in the arrangement of the operating cable or cables, and in the adjustable means by which the position of the angle through' which the rocking arm moves may be shifted to vary the nature of the movement'imparted to the frame.

Other features ofthe invention and novel combination of vparts in` addition to they above will be hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate good practical forms of the i invention.

In the drawings-- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a supporting casing provided with a frame mounted for vib'ratory movement andy shows operating means constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the supporting casing and operating means of Fig. 1,'the movable frame being indicated in dot-and-dash lines; 1

Fig. 3 is a side view of portion of the supportinghcasing of Fig. 1, provided with a modified type of operating' means;

F 1g. t on an enlarged lscale is a side view of the crank shaft 'shown in Fig. 3; vand F ig.v 5 is a diagrammaticview showing the operating'means of Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive on an enlarged scale. v

The operating means forming the subject matter of the present invention'may beemployed to impart a .progressive vibratory movement to concentrator decks, screens and various other 'devices'supporte'd for vibratory movement. The frame 10, shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing as mounted for back and forth movement in the direction of its length, may havel a concentrator deck mountedk thereupon, or may support an apertured screen'or any other device to which it is de-y sired to impart a progressive vibratory movement.

The supporting casing may be given any preferred construction and asv shown consists of the uprights 11 to which the side rails 12 are secured. Various constructions might be provided for mounting the frame y10 upon the lsupporting .casing for vibratory movement, and in the construction` shown the supporting casing is provided near its opposite endswith the transversely extending shafts 13 supported by the brackets 14 secured to the upper portion. of the casing. The transversely extending shafts 13 are provided at their opposite ends with the downwardly extending arms 15 which have adjacent their lower ends the laterally extending stub shafts 16. These stub shafts project into bearing brackets 17y secured to the under face of the supporting frame 10. The supporting means just described 'will serve to impart a slight rising and fallingv movementto. the frame 10 as it is moved back and forth in the direction of its length. The construction so far described forms no essential part of the present ,invention and may be variously constructed.

` In the embodiment of the invention illu-strated spring means is employed for moving the frame 10 in a right-hand direction, viewT ing Fig. 1 and power means is provided' to move the frame 10 ina left-hand direction.

in a right-hand direction might be variously constructed andasshown consists of a cable 18 one end of which is secured to a rod or pipe 19 that is fastened to the frame l0 and the other end of this cable is secured to a rod or pipe 2O the end of which is threaded to receive the nuts 2l, and a spring 22 is confined between Athese nuts and a transversely extending beam 23 of the supporting casing. An intermediate portion of the cable 18 is bent about a grooved sheave 24 mounted upon a transversely extending shaft 25, and the opposite ends of this shaft are supported by brackets 26 secured to the longitudinally extending rails 27 that are fastened to the upper portion of the supporting casing between the side rails 12.

f' The tension of the spring 22 may be varied asdesired by adjusting' the nuts 21 to thereby exert any desired force upon the frame l to urge the same in a right-hand direction.`

The' power operating means for' imparting movement to the frame in the left-hand direction' may be variously constructed withthe scope of the present invention, and an extremely simple construction is shown Which 'Wili noW be described. A power operated cable 28 is provided, one end of Which is secured to the pipe or rod 29 that is fas-- tened to the frame 10, and the other end of this cableis fastened to the off-set portion of the crank shaft 30'. An intermediate portion of the cable 28 is bent about a grooved sheave 3i which is supported by a transversely extending shaft 32 and the ends of this shaft are supported by the brackets mounted upon the rails 27.

The crank shaft 30 has its opposite ends journaled in the bearing brackets which are secured to the side rails l2 and the ofi'- set portion of this crank shaft is provided with the Wrist pin 35. In the construction shown the lower end of the cable 28- is secured to the Wrist pin of the crank shaft by looping the end portion about a grooved` spool or the' like 36 which is journaled upon t-he Wrist pin, and the tip end of the cable is fastened to an intermediate portion of the cable by the sleeve 3-7.

The operation of the construction just described is such that the crank shaft 30 is caused to rock through a relatively small angle to thereby tension and slack off the cable 28. The angle through which the crank arm or crank shaft rocks may be shifted about the central axis of the shaft as desired to thereby vary the nature of the of its stroke, andare shown in dotted lines in the position they occupy When this frame is at the right-hand end of its stroke.

ri`he operating means shown in Fig. 1 for imparting a rock-ing movement to the crank arm 30 consists of the operating cable 38 one end of Which is anchored to the supporting vcasing by means of a bolt 89 the outer end of which is threaded and is secured to a transverse beam of the frame by theA adjustable nut 40. An intermediate portion of the cable 38 is looped about a gr'ooved sheave 41 and this' sheave is mounted upon an eccentric 42 secured to the power shaft 43 which may be driven by a pulley (not'shoyvn). The end portions of the shaft i3 may be journaled in the bearing brackets dei supported by the casing. The opposite end of the cable 38 may be secured to the' Wrist pin similarly to the manner in which the end of the cable 28 is secured to this Wrist pin; that is, the end portion of the cable 38 may be looped about a grooved spool 45 mounted upon the Wrist pin. The arrangement is such that as' the power shaft i3 rotates its eccentric will move the sheave el bodily toward?. and from the crank shaft 30' to thereby tension and slack off the portion of the cable 38 Which is secured to the wrist pin of the crank shaft, and this will impart the desired rocking movement to the crank shaft. in order to keep the cable 38 taut it is desirable to provide a spring i6 one end of which may be secured to the ofi-set portion of the crank. shaft and the other cud of this spring may be secured to the supporting' casing as at 4:7, the arrangement being such that the spring 46 will exerta continuous pull upon the crank shaft tending to move the same from the fulilineto the dotteddine position of Fig. l. The spring 46 will serve also to pull the crank shaft avv-ay from its dead centre position with respect to the cable 2S. The nature of the movement imparted to the frame l0 will be better understood upon reference to F 5 wherein the lines designated by 0 to' 60 indicate the degrees of a circle, and it Wiii be apparent from this figure that as the crankA arm moves from. the full line position of Fig'l to the dotted line position it Will let off the cable L8 with a gradually increasing speed. The nieve-ment of the crank arm is preferably confined to a sinall angle (say lessthan 4.00), lying near the dead centre position which the arm occupies' with respect to the' cabie 28. This is desirable because the movenfient imparted to the frame l0 decreases' rapidly as the arm approaches the dead centre position in which it is shown in full ,Lines in Fig. 5, `and increases rapidly as it approaches the dotted line position of this: figure. The angie through which crank arm moves may be increased or decreased by varying the construction of the Cir eccentric 42, and the position of the angle through which the crank arm rocks maybe varied with respect to said dead central position by increasing or decreasing the-length of the cable 38. This may be done by adjusting the nut 40 upon the anchoring'bolt 39. The crank arm is shown in Fig. 5 as moving back and forth from the zero or dead centre position to the 30o position.

From the above description when read in connection with the drawings it will lbe seen that the springs 22 and 46 serve lto-rock the crank shaft 30 from the full line position to the dotted line position to thereby impart an accelerated movement to the frame `l0 in a right-hand direction. The power means provided for rocking thecrank arm in the opposite direction serves to impart a quick initial movement to the frame 10 in a lefthand direction, which movement gradually decreases in speed as the crank arm approaches its 0o position. This imparts the desired progressive movement to the frame 10 to advance the materials thereupon in a right-hand direction.

When they frame 10 is supported by the means shown for imparting a slight rise and fall to the frame as it moves in the direction of its length it may be desirable to vary the connection of the ends of the cables 18 and 28 with the frame; the rods 19 and 29 secured to these cables are therefore shown as extending through and adjustably secured to the brackets 48 which are fastened to the transversely extending beams 49 of the frame 10. Each of the rods 19 and 29 is provided with the adjustable nuts 50 which may be rotated to vary the connection between the ends ofthe cables 18 and 28 and the brackets 48. A threaded turn buckle 51 is preferably provided to form a connection between the adjacent ends ofthe rods 19 and 29 so that the pull of one cable may bedirectly transmitted to the other through the turn buckle 51.

The rocking crank shaft 30 and cable 28 for imparting the` movement of the crank shaft to the frame 10 constitutes an extremely simple and satisfactory means for producing a progressive vibratory movement, and since the operating cable 38 has one end anchored while its other end is connected to the wrist-pin 35 the movement imparted to the shaft operating portion of this cable will be double the movement of the sheave 41 in a horizont-al direction. An eccentric 42 having a relatively small throw will therefore serve to impart the desired rocking movement to the crank shaft 30.

The modified construction shown in Figs.

3 and 4 is substantially the same in con-- struction and operation as that disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 except that the power operated cable 38 has been replaced by the pitman rod 52 one end of which is provided` with theyoke 53 lin which the eccentric k54 rotates, and this eccentric may be secured to orv formed'integral with the power shaft 55. Iheopposite end of the pitman rod 52 is secured to the-split head 56 which embraces the wrist pin 35 of the crank shaft. The position of the angle through which the crank shaft 30 rocks maybe varied as desired in the construction shown -in Ij`ig. 3 by adjusting the nuts 57 upon'the pitman rod to vary `its 'effective length.

l/Vhat is claimed is 1. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a crank arm that extends from its axis of rotation in the direction of the cable take-up movement, a cable having one end connected to said frame andits other end secured to the crank arm, means for rocking said arm through a limited angle to tighten and slack oil' the cable, and adjustable means for varying the position of the arc through which the crank arm swings.

2. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting a progressive vibratory means for rocking said arms through a small" angle lying in the vicinity of the dead centre position of the arms withv respect to said `cable to move the frame in one direction with a rapidly increasing speed and in the opposite direction with a rapidly decreasing speed.

3. In combination with a frame supported i for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting a progressive vibratoryvmovementto the frame, comprising a crank arm that extends from its axis of rotation in the direction of the cable take-upl movement, a cable having one end connected to the'frame and its other end secured to the crankarm, power actuated means disposed at one side of the crank arm for pulling it from a position of small inclination to the dead centre position to the approximate dead i centre position to thereby exert a rapidly decreasing take-up pull upon the cable, and yielding means for pulling said arm through a small angle in the opposite direction to .j impart a rapidly increasing let-off movement to said cable. i

4. In combination with a frame supported .for back and forth movement, operating me-ans for imparting a progressive vibratory movement to the frame, comprising a crank arm that extends from its axis of rotation lili) l LSU in the direction of the cable take-up' movement, a calole havin-g one end connectedto the' frame and' its other end` Secured' to the @mnh amm means for rocking sa'df arm th'rouigh al small angle'y lying in the vicinity of the dead centre position of the arm With respect to said cable, including a. @able conneeted to said arm and extending laterally therefrom, eccentric for tensioning the second' cable tol 1311M- the-aiiin towai'di its` deed centife' position, and yieldingv menne for pnflling the armi @waxy from, sa/ict @lead centre po- 'sitioim to let o the ea'blfe ate' mpi'dflry increas- ALBERT STEBBNSL 

